


Intaglio

by havisham



Category: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Crossover, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-16 14:17:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13637970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: Dr. Henry Jekyll makes an interesting new friend.





	Intaglio

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panny/gifts).



“That ring would look better on my finger, don't you think?” 

The voice was quiet, but insistent, and Henry turned his head to see who was speaking. He usually woke up in appalling places, when he let his other self take over, and today was no different. Around him lay the bodies of men and women, each and every one of them wearing the same besotted expression of bliss. If not for the rise and fall of some of their chests, Henry would've believed himself in a charnel house. 

The speaker, however, was not one of the dead. He had persuaded the ring off a man’s finger and was now wearing it on his slim white hand. He held it, to admire it, and Henry thought he recognized him. Their eyes met and Henry thought better of it. The one he was thinking of had been his elder brother’s age, five years older than himself. But this boy -- golden haired and with a beauty that was almost obscene -- could hardly be more than twenty, if that. 

It was strange how some faces repeated, in life, without rhyme or reason. 

“Are you going to tell me to give it back?” asked the boy and Henry pulled himself up, his legs still weak and unsteady under him. 

“Why? It seems like the owner gave it to you by his own free will,” he said, throwing on a coat that he thought might be his over his shoulder. He took his leave from this frightful place and only belatedly noticed that he was being followed. “Is there something of mine you would like?” 

The boy flushed red and glared at him. “You needn't act so superior, Hyde. I saw what you did last night. This --” he flashed the ring and for the first time Henry saw that there was something carved upon it, a complicated intaglio design, “hardly compares.” 

“You must be confusing me with someone else,” Henry said pleasantly, giving him a closed mouth smile. 

“I'm not,” was the instant reply. 

Henry had no idea what he could have done last night, and had no way to recall it now. If it was something that could be fixed, he decided, he would try to do so. “What is your name?” 

“Why do you want to know?” 

“It would be rude of me to converse further with you without introducing myself.” Henry reached into his pockets and found, to his pleasure, his gilt card holder, just where he had left it last. He took out a card and gave it to the boy. “Doctor Henry Jekyll, pleased to meet you.” 

“Gray. Charmed, I'm sure. Do you have a brother then, Dr. Jekyll, or cousin?” 

“I have a patient whose illness sometimes leads me to places like the ones we just left. He is a troublesome man, but I cannot abandon him. What of you, Gray? Why did you find yourself in such a place?” 

“Boredom, I suppose? London is dull this season.” He said it like he was a veteran of many London seasons, all exhausting in their dullness. It was amusing in its way as weariness often was in the young and leisure-bound. 

Henry assumed the boy would soon go off on his own business, but he did not. When Henry reached his own home, his new companion was still by his side. 

“I'm hungry,” said Gray, going in before Henry had a chance to. “What have you got to eat?” 

“I can call the servants to prepare something. Is there anything you prefer?” 

“Meat,” Gray said. Then he sighed and looked away. “Whatever you have. I'm not one to complain.” This proved to be plainly untrue, as he had a half-dozen complaints at his lips as soon as he was served. The butter was insufficiently sweet, and Henry’s choice of tea, bitter. 

“You might as well be feeding me toasted cheese and opium,” said Gray with a sneer. Henry wondered if the pounding in his head was getting worse or better. 

As amusing as all that was, Henry had appointments to get to, and many little tasks necessity gave him to do. He left his new guest at home to fend for himself, saying that he would return by supper, if that.

Evening-time came quickly and Henry came home to bright lights and laughing strangers lingering on his doorstep. Inside, there were more strangers and it seemed that his wine collection had found eager drinkers here. In the parlor, holding court among his throngs of admirers, was Gray. 

He smiled when he caught sight of Henry, a mocking smile. 

“What are you doing?” Henry said, ignoring a throb of anger that should have been a warning to him. 

“You said I could use your house as I liked, and so I have, Mr. Hyde.” 

He was so far gone that the serum was no longer necessary. Had it truly been needed? 

“Send these animals away,” Hyde snapped. “I will not have them sullying my home like this.” 

Gray smiled, pleased at his transformation. With a soft murmur and melting look, he sent the people away. Hyde watched impatiently as they filed out, and he made sure none lingered. When that was done, he rounded at Gray. 

“What sort of thing are you?” he demanded. “What do you want from me? I have no fondness for interferers and hangers-on.” 

“What I want…” The boy shrugged, his face an indifferent mask. “Only some new sensation in this commonplace world of ours. I doubt a split-brained madman like you can provide it, but…”

“Watch your tongue,” Hyde hissed. “I know what you are, Dorian Gray. There is no filth in this city you have not sampled.” 

Gray inclined his head. “So you see the source of my troubles. Shall we go?”

“I work alone,” Hyde said. “The company of a brat like you holds no interest.” 

“I think I can make it worth your time,” Gray said, and leaned over and placed a kiss on Hyde’s mouth. When he pulled away, he wiped off his lips. Smiling, slightly, he said, “I have more experience in this than you.”

*

The next time Henry woke, he was in a nightmare of red. The front of his shirt was stiff with dried blood and the bedsheets around him were still sticky with it. Someone stirred beside him and grabbed his hand.

“Don't struggle,” said a familiar voice. In the dimness of the room, he could make out the paleness of the hair, the shadowed eyes. “Do you remember what you did?” 

“No,” Henry said, his voice shaking. “I never do.”

Gray rose from the bed and tossed something to him. Henry caught it without thinking. It was the ring that Gray had taken earlier. He saw now what the intaglio design was -- that of two faced Janus, carved on blood-red stone. 

“Have it as a keepsake, Dr. Jekyll,” said Gray, his mocking laughter lingering there even when he had gone. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my beta!


End file.
